Running scared

Monday of  last week was the scariest day for many Cebuanos when  a 6.9-magnitude earthquake shook the  island.

Thousands of residents, especially in Cebu City, scampered  for safety. It was  11:46 in the morning. I was in my office in the political science department of the University of San Carlos  main building when the earth started shaking. I was basically quiet and observed  my secretary Myrna who was  praying aloud. When the shaking stopped, I told her to get out of the building.

When we both left the  office, we met two   faculty members running out of their classrooms frantically announcing  that there was an earthquake. I immediately went downstairs,  this time fearing the  effect of aftershocks,  and stayed in my parked car  with  Franco Villaruel, a political science faculty member. In the car,  I  turned on the radio  to get a better idea of what was going on. I learned that the epicenter was between Cebu and Negros Oriental, and that the tremors registered  a magnitude of  6.9.

For  about an hour, we followed reports coming in from different areas affected by the quake’s impact.   Mr. Villaruel later decided to go to his class while I went to  lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Gen. Maxilom Avenue.  When I came out of  the restaurant, I saw a waiter and the security officer   running and shouting that a  tsunami was approaching.

I looked up but saw no water or tidal waves.   Many people on the street looked at the direction of the pier area and started running to Fuente Osmeña. I went back inside my car to listen to radio reports.  That’s how I  found out that there was no basis for  a tsunami.

First, Cebu doesn’t face the open sea.  Second, Phivolcs  lifted its tsunami alert level 2 by about 2:30 p.m.

As I calmly  drove  to Fuente Osmeña, however, I saw frightened  people running to the park.  Traffic  was very bad by that time because many people were on the road.  On my way home from work, I felt  another tremor at about 7 p.m., one of several aftershocks.

Today many people, especially from Negros Oriental, are still nervous about the effects of the earthquake and seeking safety in  higher ground.  It’s  indeed  pitiful to see  how  many of our brothers and sisters in Negros lost their homes in  massive landslides.

We hope all Cebuanos,  who are protected by Señor Sto. Niño, will have kind hearts to assist the survivors with much-needed relief items, especially water and food.

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The impeachment trial of  Chief Justice Renato Corona entered its  fifth week. So far the prosecution has succeeded in opening the  peso deposit accounts  of Corona but not  the dollar account in  PSBank and the Bank of the Philippines Islands.  PSBank president Garcia revealed that Corona had a peso account deposit of about P24.6 million but refused to reveal the dollar account deposit because of the strict dollar account secrecy law.

The  Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the Senate  from questioning Corona’s dollar account.

This prompted some of my political science students to comment tongue in cheek that if they became government officials and decided to steal money from  government coffers, they would keep the loot in a  dollar account which can’t be examined.